January

Life as we know it is good. I don't have much to update about, because it's all pretty routine.

I have several hobbies that I really enjoy, but I never do them all at once. Right now, my main focus has been on my family history. I'm at a good point for working on it because I have 2 kids who nap for 3 hours in the afternoon and 1 who entertains himself. Since I'm a self-taught genealogist, I never paid much attention to sources before now. (Don't sue me! I was 12.) Now, I'm repenting and adding all the sources I can find (or at least the easy, suggested ones from FamilySearch). So far, I've added sources for the first 9 generations of my family tree, as well as merged duplicates, synced them to my Legacy file, and helped my family request the ordinances that need to be done. That took a huge number of hours, probably 50 total, so I watched a documentary (98 episodes!) about the Joseph Smith Papers Project as I was working.

I felt inspired to study more about Joseph Smith because of some comments from a friend who left the Church. I'm currently reading a book called Rough Stone Rolling, which is a historical view (rather than Church-endorsed, condensed view) of his life. It's absolutely fascinating. I have no doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. There are many things about his life I didn't know. He certainly wasn't a perfect man, not even close, but God worked with that "rough stone" to smooth his edges and polish him into a prophet. The funny thing is that she (now an ex-Mormon) recommended this book. It will not change anyone's view of Joseph as a prophet. As a person, maybe, if you thought he was perfect.

I'm come to realize again and again that one of the most important components of believing is wanting to. If I didn't want to believe something, I'd do everything in my power to tear it down so I felt justified in not believing it. It's exactly what she did to the Church and all religion. I see it happening to another one of my friends, and it breaks my heart.

A trip to the temple helped me clear my mind of these worries. I'm grateful to have one so close so I can do the ordinances I keep finding for my ancestors! I feel a special connection to them as I pore over their names.

Life is good. Others may use their agency to abandon all that is good, but I will never!

A New Year

I am happy to say that I met my resolutions last year, so I've made some brand new ones. As hard as fall is, this part of winter is made more tolerable by the days getting longer and the stress of Christmas over. I love making goals for the new year.

I have three goals this year.

1. Never leave a kind word unspoken. This is a tough one because I worry too much about what people will think, even when I'm saying something kind and sincere. I have a tendency to brush off compliments because I don't feel I deserve them, which brings me to my second goal.

2. Be kind to myself. This includes eating well, not criticizing myself so much, and taking time to do things for myself to recharge.

3. Read to my kids. Even if it's only 5 minutes, I know it makes a difference.

A really nasty bug had both Kenny and Katie throwing up and dirtying lots of diapers all week (ever since getting back from the trip). I'm crossing my fingers that it's over. My kids have never been sick with anything like that for so long. Here's to a new week with a lot less laundry!

Christmas Break

We're cursed, I think.

Katie has been completely healthy all year except for when we travel to Rexburg. In June, she got a bad ear infection. In November, it was croup. This past trip, throwing up. It's not anything horrible, but it's still really frustrating.

Last January, we had car trouble and a broken pipe. This trip, we returned to find the water in the bathtub running (which was turned off when we left), the cat shut in our room (which was open when we left) - so things were scratched up, and a dishwasher not working properly.

The trip was good but too long for me. I don't like traveling very much. It's stressful, and I come home feeling gross from indulging in junk food too much over the holidays. Still, we had a good time.

Highlights (the good ones):

Christmas morning with the Heads (and Sam and Jesse)
seeing the Head and Lee grandparents
kids sledding with Rocky pulling
caroling
a dinner/movie date with James
New Year's games and hors d'oeuvres
visiting the big D.I. and finding American Girl dolls

It's great to be home, but the stress of the unpacking/packing up Christmas/fixing the stupid dishwasher/having to go buy food has really not made today very pleasant. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I hope so!